How do smartphone users take their online buying decisions?

Given that the smartphones play a key role in connecting device owners to the whole wide world, it is logical for the commercial microcosm to hail the device as its new poster boy.ET TEAM | November 26, 2016, 14:22 IST

Over the course of last 125 years, we humans have invented a number of wonder devices that serve us at our beck and call making our life easier and smarter. But no other device can match the extent to which the smartphone has embedded itself in our life and subconscious mind. In fact, our favourite device has long since discarded its utilitarian identity of being just a mobile phone that allows us to talk to others. The smartphones have now become such a critical external appendage that users feel incomplete and lost whenever their device is not within their reach. Given that the smartphones play a key role in connecting device owners to the whole wide world, it is logical for the commercial microcosm to hail the device as its new poster boy. But we need to examine the smartphone user's buying behaviour before we extrapolate it as the only transactional tool for online purchase

The present scenario: A recent study has revealed that over 90% of consumers now use their mobile devices for making impulsive purchase decisions on categories such as fashion, travel, music and movies. The same study also says that 36 % consumers place a higher weightage on researched decision-making on products and services like insurance and investments for which they still rely on their PC or laptops. But this trend does not tell us which device consumers rely on more for buying, and which ones they check products frequently on, before taking the final plunge.

Till 2015, global trends suggested that a greater percentage of online purchase traffic was driven by the PC. Conversely, around the same time Google had reported that search queries generated from India via mobile had superseded that of the desktop searches. However, we have to wait and see how Indian consumers who are now using their mobiles for performing search; eventually do their buying. For high unit cost categories like Cars or Housing it can be safely said that consumers do a ground research online. But a further in-depth research and actual purchase definitely happens offline with physical visits to the market.

In another report titled 'How India ordered food online in 2015' it was estimated that close to 85% users had placed food orders on their mobile phones and a total of over 1 million orders were placed online through Zomato. This once again demonstrates user preference for mobile in a category that thrives on consumer impulse.

So, it seems that the product category of intended/impulsive purchase matters when it comes to buying online, whether it be via app or through the website.We also need to examine the buyer-behaviour on a related yet slightly different aspect. There is a recent and well-known example which clearly shows that the online consumers are still looking for online search and buying avenues beyond their smartphones when it comes to actually spending their money. This consumer story is a well-documented case study of - 'in app mobile search and purchase' vs 'general mobile search and purchase'.

Till May 2015, the Myntra app was generating 90% of its consumer traffic for the company. The company then chose to completely shut down its desktop and mobile website; opting to go for a completely in-app experience. But in early 2016, Myntra did an about turn and reopened its website once again, thereby allowing greater search flexibility for its users. This also shows us that there are a significant number of online consumers who still wish to explore on mediums other than just the apps or are more comfortable making the actual purchase on mediums other than the apps.

Predicted Future: According to studies, 98% of Indian consumers who are not averse to paying online by their debit / credit card instead of the more preferred cash on delivery (COD) route, say that online shopping is their topmost reason for accessing the internet.This is an encouraging sign which signals the advent of an era where consumers will likely drive online sales even without the lure of discounts; similar to what Google too has predicted.

Once the buyers enter this phase, the total number of online shoppers in India will rise to 175 million. Most of them are expected to then frequently use their mobile to not only search or discover products but also buy them online. The most expected critical deviation in the future from this phase on, predicts that buying decisions made on the mobile will be influenced largely by the convenience offered to consumers in terms of product, service and content discovery.

The average consumer will want convenience - the more convenient the option, the higher the probability of choosing it. Consumers have already started demanding a radical transformation in the manner in which search results are currently dispensed online. This brings us to the next logical step - mobile search taking us into the fascinating world of online discoveries performed through user initiated actions.

These avenues will need to transcend intentional search and be more intent driven. For this, social apps will emerge as key influencers of buying decisions for mobile consumers. Chat apps already figure among some of the top most downloaded items by Indian mobile consumers. This trend will show a way forward in commercially leveraging their conversational intent which usually revolves around discussing solutions for daily life issues. In such instances, the consumers may not be actively looking for search results (for products or services) but would greatly appreciate options (of products and services) as a sort of helping hand in their moment of need, options that would really connect well with their needs. It presents a tremendous opportunity for marketers to drive engagement with an audience that uses social messengers to talk about almost everything available in the online universe.

Going beyond search results, this dimension would capture the consumers' interest at a stage much before, where a buying decision is actually made, in-fact even before the idea or the need of purchase manifests in the users' mind. Exciting times are indeed ahead in the manner the smartphone users would buy online in the near future. The present day critical appendages will in all likelihood, transform into an extended external thinking organ without whose intervention, purchases may possibly become unimaginable in future day and age.